C. R. Keyes — Bethany Limestone. 223- 



Professor Broadhead, in suggesting the name Bethany Falls, 

 originally applied it to the main body of the limestone, the 

 thick massive portion which formed the chief ledge giving the 

 locality its title. Subsequently he defined it clearly, as to geo- 

 logical position and the localities where best exposed. While 

 for the most part the term was confined in its usage to the 

 ^' main body " of the formation, it was also extended so as to 

 include beds of limestone which were not a part of the main 

 body but which were above it and were separated from it by 

 shales. In the latter part of 1894 it was recognized that the 

 calcareous basal member of the Missourian series properly 

 included, in addition to the main body, the limestone layers 

 both above and below which lay between two heavy shale 

 formations. Although it was desirable to have the formation 

 specifically designated on account of the important position 

 that it held, it was thought unnecessary to propose a new name, 

 when the old one, which was well known, could be made, by 

 slight extensions, to cover the beds in question. Bethany was, 

 therefore, adopted. A few months after the announcement of 

 the application of Bethany to the basal member of the Mis- 

 sourian, Dr. Haworth, who had independently, in Kansas, 

 placed the limestone under consideration at the base of Upper 

 Coal Measures (Missourian), correlated it in part with the 

 Bethany Falls limestone of Broadhead, and designated it as 

 the Erie or Triple limestone. After attention was called inci- 

 dentally to the fact that it was believed that the term Bethany 

 had priority. Professor Haworth raised several objections to 

 this opinion, which were stated^ as follows : 



" Dr. Keyes suggests that inasmuch as this correlation has 

 been perfected, the term Bethany limestone should be applied 

 to the whole group. It is quite evident that Broadhead did 

 not intend his name Bethany to be used in so extensive a sense, 

 and as the term Erie limestone was proposed nearly two years 

 before the suggestion made by Doctor Keyes, priority would 

 not allow the use of the term as he suggests." Two questions 

 arise in this connection : (1) whether the original usage of the 

 term Bethany Falls can be, with propriety, extended ; and (2) 

 if not, can Erie be regarded as defined prior to the extension 

 of the term Bethany as used in the recent Missouri geological 

 report. 



Eegarding the first problem, there can be no doubt that the 

 formation is sufficiently well defined to have its name retained 

 for the main body of the limestone, if that should be desirable. 

 Moreover, in this sense it was applied not to the lowermost bed, 

 as stated by Dr. Haworth, but to more of a median section of 

 the limestone formation. At the same time it included more 



* Univ. Geol. Sur. Kansas, vol. i, p. 156, 1896. 



